10 things you're going to have a harder time getting than a gun

Emma is a New York native and into all things creative including fashion, food, writing and music. She is a total bookworm, love traveling and exploring new cities, and is also a performing singer-songwriter.

Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images: (Vesta P. checks out a handgun as she prepares to buy Tim S. (L) one as a Christmas present at the National Armory gun store, Dec. 23, 2015 in Florida.)

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It's easier to get an AR-15 than to adopt a puppy — yes, really

Just eight days before committing one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent American history, Omar Mateen reportedly walked into a Florida gun store and bought an AR-15 style rifle without any trouble at all. After passing a brief in-store background check (essentially just checking for felony convictions and active warrants), the perpetrator of the massacre walked away with a perfectly legal assault weapon.

Under Florida law, Mateen did not need a permit or license to purchase the gun, and no waiting time was required before actually carrying it out the store. Along with 35 other states, Florida has no legal license, registration or permit requirements to purchase guns. In fact, the Sunshine State is ranked as one of the easiest places to purchase a gun, along with others like Alaska and Kansas, which don't even require permits to carry around handguns.

With lenient gun laws like those in Florida, purchasing deadly weapons can be horrifyingly easy — a lot easier than most things we don't think twice about every day. If an individual's background checks out, the process can take a matter of minutes, faster than most of us can get in and out of a grocery store. So we wondered, just how many things do we do that actually take longer than purchasing an assault rifle like the one Mateen used? Here's what we came up with:

1. Adopting a pet

In the U.S., adopting a shelter animal can take up to three whole weeks. Most shelters require extensive interviews, screening processes and reference checks to make sure you are the right fit for the animal.

2. Getting a pool permit

Getting a permit to build a pool in your backyard can be up to a six-week process depending on where you live and what kind of pool you're building.

3. Getting an abortion

Thirty U.S. states require women to receive in-person counseling before having an abortion, and 28 of those states also require women to wait a minimum of 24 hours between counseling and having the procedure done.

4. Getting health insurance

Under ObamaCare, it can take up to six weeks to be officially enrolled in an employer's health care plan. If you sign up between the first and the 15th, your plan should start on the first of the following month, but if you apply after the 15th of the month, your plan won't start until the first of the month after that... so about 45 days.

6. Getting a divorce

Yup, getting a divorce takes even longer than tying the knot in the first place. Depending on where you live, the period between filing a divorce petition and making it final can take more than two years. Arkansas, for example, has a minimum processing time of 540 days.

7. Buying cold medicine

If you want to purchase more than nine grams of cold meds like Sudafed, you have to wait a 30-day period between your purchases. These over-the-counter drugs contain the active ingredient pseudoephedrine, which is commonly used to make illegal drugs like crystal meth — hence the waiting period.

9. Qualifying for food stamps

10. Getting tickets to Hamilton

And yes, last but not least, getting tickets to this year's favorite Broadway show actually takes longer than walking in and out of a gun store. As of now, Hamilton tickets are sold out on its website through April 2017.